Ever since I first found out that Barbara had breast cancer the thought of her dying plagued me almost daily. I never told her how I felt about this because I tried to be her coach and source of strength. There were many nights especially when she was in the hospital with the infections that I cried myself to sleep. I just kept thinking that it was so unfair for her to have cancer and suffer all that humiliation and sickness that came with the chemotherapy treatments. I never really got over the fear of losing her. I was so afraid of what would happen to me. How could I ever go on with my life without her? How would I cope with the thought of never seeing her or talking with her again? I thought a lot about death during this period. I firmly believed in the afterlife and eternal salvation. I knew that Barbara was a good Christian and that her place in heaven would be a certainty. But I wanted her here on earth with me for the rest of my life. I wanted to see her grow old and comfort me. I couldn't stand the thought of her dying before me.

This bracing volume collects work on Italian writers and filmmakers that engage with nonhuman animal subjectivity. These contributions address 3 major strands of philosophical thought: perceived borders between man and animals, historical and fictional crises, and human entanglement with the nonhuman and material world.

He took an oath to fight. He just didn’t realize it was for the wrong reasons. Steaming South on the Mississippi River to enlist in the Confederate Army, Lummy Tullos leaves behind the life he always wanted. With little training and even less experience as a soldier, he joins the 27th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry to face the approaching Yankee juggernaut marching on Vicksburg. His singular purpose is to protect home and family from the blue invader. Enduring heat, cold, horrific assaults, sickness, privation, and starvation through a forty-seven day siege, it is his comrades in the trenches—gray and blue alike—who give him hope... until tragedy strikes him to the core. With death at every turn and little prospect of ever seeing home again, he begins to question his commitment, his faith, and the nation for which he fights, suffers, and kills. How can he honor his oath to the Confederacy when he no longer believes in the cause it defends? Lummy pushes forward until the battle for Vicksburg is lost. As he marches with his defeated army under the conquering Union flag, he comes to realize that the greatest surrender will be within.

'Octavia Butler was playing out our very real possibilities as humans. I think she can help each of us to do the same' GLORIA STEINEM 'Her evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES From the groundbreaking, award-winning author of Parable of the Sower: one young man with extraordinary gifts must reconcile his own heritage before he can change the fate of humanity. Lilith's son Akin looks like an ordinary child. His family live together on Earth, but not in complete peace. The Oankali saved humanity years before, compelled by the desire to create an extraordinary new race of children. But there are those who resist the Oankali and the salvation they offer. The first of his kind, Akin is more powerful than any other being. He understands the desire to fight for the independence of humanity. He also fears that, if left alone, humanity will destroy itself again. And when young Akin is stolen from Lilith and their hybrid family, he soon faces an impossible choice. But first he must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two. PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time... for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler's novel may be unmatched' NEW YORKER 'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN 'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS 'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ 'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR 'Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct' LUPITA NYONG'O

Throughout the years, there may have been equally charismatic performers, comparable athletes, and even better interviews, but none were blessed with the same combination of talents to manage to stay on top for over three decades. To wrestling fans, the Nature Boy is a platinum-blond deity, a sixteen-time world champion who accurately boasted that he could have a five-star match with a broom. No matter how limited the opponent, Flair had the skill and determination to bounce all over the mat, transforming his rival into a star. When the camera light went on, "Slick Ric" could convince viewers that, if they missed an upcoming match, a momentous life experience would pass them by. Flair's opponents were challenged with this simple taunt: "To be the man, you have to beat the man." Away from the arena, Richard Morgan Fliehr spent years struggling with his own concept of what it meant to be a man. He suffered periods of crushing self-doubt, marital strife and—in a profession where there was room for only one Ric Flair—broken friendships. Ric Flair: To Be the Man, cowritten with Keith Elliot Greenberg, chronicles the anguish and exhilaration of Flair's life and career—in painfully honest detail. In addition to his own words, Flair's story is enriched by anecdotes from ring greats like Superstar Billy Graham, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Harley Race, Sgt. Slaughter, David Crockett, Arn Anderson, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. To Be the Man traces the rise of one of wrestling's most enduring superstars to the pinnacle of the sports entertainment universe, and is a must-read for every wrestling fan.